[Brananorama]

4/10/15
Minnesota Twins (1-2) at Chicago White Sox (2-1)
Ricky Nolasco (0-0) vs. Hector Noesi (0-0)


---The White Sox addressed just about all of their 2014 concerns with offseason signings, including another member of the rotation, a new closer, and a left fielder. I can’t say I’m too pleased with our biggest (emotional) rival gearing up to take over the Central once Detroit’s veteran age catches up with them, but you can’t deny how systematic their winter was. Ricky Nolasco got the ball this afternoon. I’ll be making sure to pay special attention to him throughout April; if he succeeds, we might be looking to find a potential trade partner to ship him out, as we’ve got his slot in the rotation covered with minor-league depth. If he fails, well, we’ll probably be trying even harder to ship him out. Nolasco was largely saved by his defense in the first, as after giving up a run, he loaded the bases, then relied on incredible diving plays from both Brian Dozier and Oswaldo Arcia, who’s been looking up-to-standard in his first few games in left field. The White Sox got another in the second on an RBI single from Adam Eaton, then a third on a run-scoring groundout from reigning Rookie of the Year Jose Abreu. Aaron Hicks decided to make the most of his third and final April chance with the Twins by corking the team’s first 2015 homer into right-center field to make it a 3-1 game. Later in the inning, Torii Hunter tied the game with a two-run double. J.B. Shuck gave the White Sox the lead again in the bottom half of the third, marking the eighth hit already in the game off Ricky -- however, Nolasco induced a double play and a grounder that was handled nicely by Dozier to escape the inning otherwise unscathed. Hicks came up again in the fourth with Trevor Plouffe and Kurt Suzuki on the corners, and knocked in Trevor despite hitting into a routine double play, tying the ballgame. Adam LaRoche helped Chicago retake the lead with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the fifth. The Twins climbed to within one on a solo shot off the bat of Kennys Vargas that made it a 6-5 game. Kurt Suzuki tied it in the same inning with a solo dinger to a similar spot in the stands.


I decided to make today a more traditional ‘pen day by throwing Thielbar in for the 7th in the tie game. He allowed a hit only to Abreu and struck out two in a scoreless half. I would have used Fien for the 8th, but a set of lefties were due up, so I slotted in Brian Duensing for the first time this year. The South Siders got LaRoche to second with one out, but couldn’t score. Duensing threw another scoreless inning in the eighth, and the Twins got a look at fresh new closer David Robertson to begin their half of the ninth. Danny Santana singled and stole with two outs but was left aboard. Casey Fien got his first appearance in the bottom of the inning and allowed a single and a DEEP fly off the bat of Melky Cabrera, but Arcia made another great play out in left to make an important out. Fien retired LaRoche and Tyler Flowers to send the series opener into extras. Arcia continued his great game with a 10th-inning triple, but was stranded. Fien returned for another inning, but quickly allowed two men in scoring position with nobody out. With both the infield and outfield drawn in, Michael Tonkin entered the game and struck out Alexei Ramirez, induced a groundout from Emilio Bonafacio, then set down Adam Eaton on a pitch in the dirt to keep the game alive. It’s clutch late-inning pitching performances like these, especially those with strikeouts, that I’ll be demanding from my guys this year. The White Sox began yet another inning with a pair of hits, as consecutive singles opened their 11th inning and forced in Tim Stauffer, who served up a walk-off three-run shot to Adam LaRoche. A disappointing end to this one, but there were plenty of non-Nolasco positives to take away from this one.
Minnesota 6, Chicago 9 -- F/11
WP: Matt Albers (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Michael Tonkin (0-1, 18.00)
League Notes: A couple of key pitching injuries swept both leagues today -- Scott Kazmir of the Oakland A’s is out of commission for four to five months due to a injury to a finger on his pitching hand, and most notably, Clayton Kershaw will miss four months due to a partially torn labrum -- a huge blow for a Dodgers team set up to compete for the pennant again in 2015.
~~~

4/11/15
Minnesota Twins (1-3) at Chicago White Sox (3-1)
Tommy Milone (0-0) vs. John Danks (0-0)


I entered today’s game with the same sort of expectations as I held Nolasco to yesterday. Tommy Milone needs to impress this month, or else one of Meyer or May will be up to claim his spot. A sacrifice fly gave the White Sox the lead in the first inning, and Milone followed it by hitting Avisail Garcia with a pitch, knocking him out of the game. The Sox got two more on a two-run, two-out single from Emilio Bonifacio in the second inning. Back-to-back hits in the third got another on the board for Chicago to make it 4-0. Josmil Pinto made his second throwing error from behind the plate, trying to catch J.B. Shuck stealing, in a situation unfortunately reminiscent of the play from Opening Day in Detroit. Pinto’s status as this team’s future catcher is entirely dependent on how well his defense develops; scouting reports and minor league track records have already shown us he knows how to hit. In the fifth, Jose Abreu got his first homer of the year off Milone, making it 5-0. Melky Cabrera helped the ChiSox go back-to-back, clubbing one over the fence in left-center and knocking Tommy out of the game in a disappointing effort. He was relieved by Tim Stauffer, who pitched two shutout frames, and was followed in the box score by J.R. Graham, who pitched two scoreless innings of his own. The Twins put up little resistance throughout, the exception being an eighth-inning, two-run, line-drive homer off the bat of Torii Hunter. Javy Guerra closed this one out with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Minnesota 2, Chicago 6
WP: John Danks (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Tommy Milone (0-1, 13.50)
~~~

4/12/15
Minnesota Twins (1-4) at Chicago White Sox (4-1)
Phil Hughes (0-1, 6.35) vs. Chris Sale (0-0, 2.08)
Chris Sale began his outing uncharacteristically, by loading the bases for the heart of Minnesota’s order. Oswaldo Arcia took advantage of the situation, lacing an opposite-field grounder through the infield to give the Twins an early lead. A wild pitch made it 2-0, and an infield hit for Eduardo Nunez, starting in place of Dozier, made it a three-run game early. Add on a two-out single from Josmil Pinto and the Twins had a 4-0 lead by the end of the inning, despite Sale striking out three men. Chicago took back a pair in the bottom of the second, but an RBI sacrifice fly attempt was turned into a nifty double play thanks to more promising defense by Arcia out of left field. I’ll admit I was a little worried about a sketchy fielder to begin with having to switch positions on short notice, but so far I’ve been largely impressed. Trevor Plouffe drove home his first of the season in the sixth with a double into the gap, but a wild pitch from Phil Hughes gave the White Sox the run back in the bottom half. Plouffe brought home another in the top of the eighth to make it a 6-3 game. Casey Fien and Michael Tonkin combined for a scoreless 7th and 8th, in anticipation of Glen Perkins, who I was going to get in the game no matter what the score was.


In the top of the ninth, the save situation disappeared when Kennys Vargas drove a ball down the line with men at first and second. He scored a run, but Joe Mauer attempted to beat the relay begun by J.B. Shuck, and failed, making an out at the plate that resulted in an awkward slide and a removal from the game. My trainer tells me he’ll have a sore ankle and his performance is going to take a bit of a hit for the next week or so. Perkins walked a man in the ninth but escaped unscathed, and once again the Twins eked out a win in their series finale.
Minnesota 7, Chicago 3
WP: Phil Hughes (1-1, 5.40) / LP: Chris Sale (0-1, 4.63)


Series Notes: Another disappointing effort as we can only seem to win by scoring seven runs in the third game of the series. A change of pace is definitely due, and I’m glad we’re heading back to Minny for six games at our own, comfortable park, to help us get back into the swing of things. We don’t play anybody outside of the division for another week and a half, so these first few games with our nearest rivals are going to be some of the most important in our entire season.


League Notes: The Twins rank 25th in this week’s Power Rankings. Atlanta, Seattle, and the Cubs round out the top three spots.